When Steve Sue moved to Hawaii permanently in 2008 from the Mainland, he was chasing after a girl – his now wife. Today, in his volunteer role as founder and chairman of local nonprofit ID8 – which is dedicated to fostering ideation and expression to create positive impacts – he continues to chase people and their stories to build Hawaii’s “ideas business” through entrepreneurship and educational programs.
“Ideas for me are a process. I’ve been in the idea business so long,” said Sue, who holds a bachelor’s in design in addition to a Juris Doctor degree. “But I didn’t end up becoming a lawyer. My first career was as a conceptual designer for amusements parks, malls, restaurants, hotels and casinos.”
In 2011, Sue’s local nonprofit formerly named BizGym and Bizgenics, set out to promote creativity, innovation and young entrepreneurship programs. What started out as an 8th grade lemonade stand competition that taught kids about sales and product branding, while also raising money for the community, soon evolved. After the contest, Lemonade Alley, was shuttered in 2020 due to in-person gathering restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic, ID8 shifted to building the curriculum “for teachers to implement on their own, at school campuses rather than through inter-school competitions,” he said.
“The fun part of entrepreneurship is dreaming and coming up with big ideas. But what brings startups to the next level is measuring ideas to bottom-line impacts,” said Sue, who is also a partner of Honolulu-based SaaS Ventures, a software and website development consulting business.
According to ID8’s 2022 annual report, its total revenues were $310,263; with more than 500 volunteers; and 2,000 students who participated in Project Lemon Tree, a program where students learn to take care of a fruit-bearing citrus tree. “Beyond responsibility and agricultural principles, it teaches kids about global warming issues,” he said.
Sue added, the nonprofit’s board, officers and directors are all volunteers, and for larger productions, he hires independent contractors and day laborers.
Tell me about your current programs and projects. Top-of-mind is our “Shaka, A Story of Aloha” film [a documentary on the origin, meanings and uses of the gesture] sneak-peek program. We’ll offer nonprofits, companies and groups to present our film any time between June through December to their employees, members, donors, beneficiaries – free of charge. Our goal is to allow Hawaii residents to see it free for six months, then go to film festivals after that, in hopes of gaining wider distribution beyond Hawaii. See program details here: projectshaka.com/film.
Other programs include:
- ID8 Studios, a sound stage we operate for the state of Hawaii, serving commercial, education and production industry needs. See ID8Studios.org.
- SumoSum, a visual financial forecasting, literacy app. See SumoSum.com.
- Project Lemon Tree, a science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, and entrepreneurship program for students. See projectlemontree.com.
How are you funding these projects and programs? We are funded by grants, individual and company donors – locally, nationally and internationally. For Project Shaka, [which began as the documentary, but has since grown into programs including free stickers, school curriculum and Hawaii DMV license plates], we have large funders who have helped us toward our goal of raising $500,000 for production costs, musical and film talent who are donating their time, and we are even seeing microfunding – 80% of people buying our free Project Shaka sticker online, contribute more toward the movement. We’re still fundraising to meet our goal and above it for festival admissions come 2024. The goal is to connect with a distributor who can take “Shaka, A Story of Aloha” to the world.
How was business during the Covid-19 pandemic? Every nonprofit had to pivot during the pandemic, particularly ones in education. So in our case, because we were running a live event culinary contest, it made sense for us to stop that for a short period of time. In the end, we realized there were other ways to deliver the curriculum.
Is this the kind of career you envisioned for yourself? I’ve never put together a movement before, and that is what Project Shaka has become naturally since we started in 2019. My role as an activist is to get people to share Aloha and do positive things with it. I’m more interested in helping people these days, leveraging my time by building other entrepreneurs. So, I’m actively retiring projects, and allowing the board to take things off my plate. If I start a program, I don’t have to be the guy shepherding it through to the end. And people have stepped up because of this approach. My first professional mentor taught me that as a creative you must have a sense of humor, humility, and keep your eyes wide open!
ID8 (ide•ate)
Steve Sue, founder and chairman
Address: 1012B 18th Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
Website: id8.org
